


Pumpkin Raffle

by vcg73



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Kurt & Dave Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 22:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16463651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vcg73/pseuds/vcg73
Summary: Kurt stops by to bring a little Halloween cheer to an old friend in Lima.





	Pumpkin Raffle

Dave Karofsky answered the knock on his door, stepping back in shock when a humongous jack-o-lantern walked its way into his home on long, black-and-orange plaid legs, its carved crooked grin making it appear to be laughing at him. 

For a second, he was convinced that he was hallucinating about being inside that old Peanuts cartoon about the Great Pumpkin.

Then the great gourd spoke. “Happy Halloween, David!”

Even the biggest pumpkin in Lima couldn’t disguise that voice. “Kurt?”

“Yep! Help me please? This thing weighs a ton!”

He took the pumpkin and set it down on the kitchen table, impressed that Kurt had actually managed to carry something that was a strain even for him. 

“Where did you get this thing, Kurt? It’s a monster!”

Kurt grinned and brushed a few flecks of dried soil off his black woolen pea coat. “It’s your prize! Don’t you remember? You donated ten bucks to the Lima Memorial Hospital and got a raffle ticket.”

He remembered, but still, as grand as this jack-o-lantern was, it was kind of a let down considering some of the items that had been up for the raffle. Still, he knew that Kurt had been one of the charity volunteers and it had been nice of him to hand-deliver the ridiculous thing. “Oh, yeah,” he said, trying to look impressed. “Nice face. You carve it?”

Kurt shook his head. “No, all of them were carved by kids and nurses from the pediatrics unit. This was the grand prize pumpkin. Mr. Perkins donated this, along with about two dozen smaller ones. Look inside!”

Dave looked at him for a second, not understanding. “Why, do you want to see it lit up or something?”

He laughed. “Not unless you want to set fire to your prize!”

A grin lightened Dave’s expression as he finally got it. The jack-o-lantern wasn’t the prize, it was the packaging! 

“It was the kids’ idea,” Kurt admitted. “We had to find a pretty odd assortment of plastic packaging to keep all the prizes from getting messed up by pumpkin guts.”

“Uh, huh,” Dave said, not really caring. He grabbed the stem and popped the top free, peering down inside the pumpkin and grabbing up a package and an envelope both sealed in protective bubble wrap. He tore into the packing, popping a few stray bubbles because, how could you not? “Whoa, man, these are hockey tickets!”

Kurt grinned. “Not just any tickets. Season tickets to every remaining home game the Columbus Blue Jackets will play this season. A pair, so you can take your dad if you want. He’s a fan, right?”

“Heck, yeah!” Dave said. “Oh, man, look at this!”

Inside the package that had come with the tickets was a dark blue team jersey signed in silver sharpie by every member of the Blue Jackets team.

“That’s a good prize,” Kurt said, sounding more hopeful than certain.

“It’s the best!” Dave enthused. He smiled broadly at Kurt, then looked at him curiously when he noted the somewhat relieved look on his face. “You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

Kurt tried to look innocent, but then he squirmed, and blushed, and finally blurted, “You won the deluxe spa & resort weekend, for you and four of your closest friends, okay? I just didn’t see you being happy with that. Luckily, the person who won the hockey package looked like she was going to cry, so I approached her after the drawing and asked if she might be willing to trade, even though her prize was actually worth more. She was completely happy to make the swap, though, so everything turned out okay. You’re not mad, are you?”

Dave just stood there, gaping at him. “You did that for me?”

He nodded. “You’ve had a tough year, but you’ve been doing really great and I just thought … maybe you could use something new to look forward to since you’ve decided to stay in Lima for the time being. Your last email said you were looking forward to spending more time with your dad now that his divorce is final, so when I saw this prize going to somebody who clearly didn’t want it, I figured …”

“Why not?” said Dave, looking away to hide how moved he was by that kind gesture. “Thanks, man. That’s really, really cool of you. I know you probably didn’t want to, but I’m glad you made it back for a visit. And not just for this. It’s good to see you again.”

Dave’s tentative friendship with Kurt had fallen off somewhat after Kurt moved away to New York and got caught up in his new and busy life. And after he’d broken things off with Blaine, a fact that pretty much everyone in his old high school crowd knew, though the reason for the split was not clear, Kurt had not been in a mood for much conversation. He had emailed Dave that he was coming back home to see the McKinley school musical that was taking place this coming Friday, and apparently he had also found time to spend a few hours at the hospital where he had been volunteering his free time since he was a young teen.

“It’s good to see you too,” Kurt said. That familiar feeling of awkwardness came between them as they stood smiling at one another, neither one knowing exactly what to say next. Simple faceless email was so much easier. “Um, I should probably get going. I have three more prizes to deliver.”

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t want to keep you,” Dave said, that combined sensation of relief and disappointment filling him. “Thanks again for the delivery, and the giant jack-o-lantern and everything.”

Kurt grinned at that, patting the huge pumpkin on its sturdy side. “Light ‘im up and I bet you’ll get lots of kids coming for candy tomorrow night.”

“Maybe I will,” he said, making a mental note to buy some candy. “Have a good trip home, Kurt.”

“I will. Keep in touch.”

Dave nodded and smiled until the door was safely closed behind his visitor. For a moment, the smile dimmed into a wistful expression, wishing for something he knew that he would never have. 

Then his smile lit up again brighter than before as he looked upon the cheerily grinning gourd and the amazing prize that it guarded. The prize that Kurt had taken the trouble to secure for him, probably having no idea just how amazing it actually was, but just wanting to make sure that Dave Karofsky had a happy Halloween and something special to look forward to.

Kurt might not ever be his boyfriend, but in spite of the awkwardness between them and everything that had gone between them in the past, Kurt had become one of the best friends that Dave had ever had. 

And maybe that was enough.

THE END


End file.
